With captain Ziggy Niszczot and hooker Mario Fenech leading the way, Souths claw their way back to 14-all at half-time before overcoming the Sea Eagles in th second half to record a magnificent 22-18 victory.

“I remember playing on the Tuesday night leading into it,” remembered Ellison.

“We’d played on the Sunday, played again on the Tuesday night and then again on the Saturday.

“I think Manly were three to one on favourites to win the game and Ron Willey, our coach, was interviewed after the Tuesday night game and they asked him ‘what do you think about Saturday’s game?’ He said ‘the only thing I can guarantee you is we’ll turn up’.

“We won the play-off on the back of momentum, and I think by the time Saturday came around, our bodies were just in a state of disrepair.

“But once we got moving, got into the game and got rid of the soreness, we started to play well.”